


Take Off Your Colours

by paladrae (orphan_account)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Normal High School, American Football, Anxiety Attacks, Artist Keith (Voltron), Cheerleaders, Emo Keith (Voltron), F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, First Love, Football, Honestly I'm being so mean to Keith I'm sorry, Human Shay (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Needs a Hug, Keith has anxiety, Major Original Character(s), Mutual Pining, Older Brother Shiro, Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, POV Third Person, Pansexual Lance (Voltron), Pidge is clueless, Pining Lance (Voltron), Sad Keith (Voltron), Social Anxiety, broken home, he just needs a hug, jock lance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-09-22 18:16:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 16,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9619319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/paladrae
Summary: jesus, I'm so sorry this took so long to update! But here it is.





	1. First

"Oi! Finn! Get up you lazy bones." was the first thing heard on the first day of her senior year of high school. Her door opened rather noisily and she groaned, squinting into the sudden light. Her older brother, Takashi, was leaning against the door frame with a smirk on his face.

"10 more minutes." came her reply from a bundle of blankets, which then proceeded to be ripped off her and she groaned again "I hate you."

"Love you too little sis, now get up. I swear, I baby you." he rolled his eyes, pushing his hands into the pocket of his College Letterman jacket. She opened pale grey eyes to look at her brother. His dark hair falling in his eyes, scar across his nose from a football accident and a soft smile. Features she was more than used to by now and were comforting.

"Allura made waffles?" he offered and she grinned, sitting up in bed "that's more like it."

"Be down in 5." she chuckled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Honestly, get a better sleeping schedule." he commented before waltzing back down the stairs. She rolled her eyes in response, getting to her feet and stretching her arms above her head, the joints in her back popped audibly. Picking her outfit for the day was a task, first day back at school usually everyone tried to dress up. She pulled out a usually skirt and V neck long sleeve. Hair was pulled into a pony tail and make up was put on with great precision before she walked downstairs. The sight in the kitchen made her smile, her older brother's girlfriend Allura was standing in his old college t-shirt and pyjama shorts, hair in a scraggly bun but she still looked amazing. Shiro was sitting at the table in the room, typing into his laptop. Probably more on his thesis.

"Morning, Finn!" she smiled, holding up the coffee pot as if to offer some to the girl.

"Yes please." she nodded, jumping up on the counter where Allura had left a plate of warm waffles for her and pushed one into her mouth. The sound of the school bus honking outside made her groan "scratch that - see you guys later!"

She jumped off the counter, shoving the last off Allura's waffles into her mouth, pecking her older brother on the cheek and scooped her bag up from the ground.

"Wait, Finn, is there cheer practice tonight?" Shiro called as she was a foot from the door 

"Yeah, Lance is giving me a ride home!" she called before opening the door and running out. The door opened and she clambered on to the yellow bus that smelled oddly of teenage B.O. and anxiety. She scanned it quickly before her eyes settles on her best friend, headphones shoved into her ears as always and she rolled her eyes as she flopped down next to Pidge. Who in turn jumped and pulled out one ear bud.

"Jesus, Finn." they laughed, pushing their glasses up her nose "little warning next time?"

"Pay attention then." she said nudging them. Pidge rolled their eyes in a fond sort of way, holding out a stick of gum to her and she gladly took it.

"Not in your cheer uniform for the first day of school?" Pidge asked, wiggling their eyebrows "don't want that male attantion, and female to be fair."

"Oh shut up." she laughed, brushing dark, wavy hair from hair eyes as the bus pulled into the school parking lot. They stood up and walked out on to the grounds of Garrison High. 

"Did Lance and Hunk miss the bus or something?" Pidge frowned as they waited in their usual spot by the doors, the four of them over the last 4 years had got into the habit of meeting before classes. There was an obnoxiously loud honk and suddenly a blue car raced into the spot in front of them.

"Oh my god." Finn laughed. As her childhood before friend jumped out the car, shortly followed by a very green Hunk who proceeded to throw up on the tarmac.

"You got a new car?" Finn raised an eyebrow 

"A little present for getting my licence." Lance crossed his arms over his chest, dressed as always in his High school Letterman jacket, Lions printed across the front, His last name and jersey number on the back, as the girls looked at the car. 

"Oh, to have rich parents." Finn teased

"A new car and you still can't drive for shit?" Pidge laughed

"Hey!" he pouted "I can drive just fine."

"Right, so you were aiming for my garage doors?" she shot back, recalling the time Lance had offered to pick them all up while still learning and had crashed right into Pidge's garage.

"I said I was sorry." Lance pouted and Hunk and Finn dissolved into laughs at this point. The bell ringing above their heads.

Finn sighed, turning for the door "Come on, we better get to home ro-" she didn't look as she turned and her shoulder collided with someone's chest, causing them to drop the book in their hand.

"God, I'm sor-"

"Watch where you're going." the boy snapped and her eyes widened at the hostility. Her eyes were met with purple ones of a boy she kinda recognised, he reached down and scooped up his notebook before storming off without another word.

"What's his problem?" Pidge frowned, appearing at her side "you okay?"

"Yeah." she said vaguely, staring after him, she was so sure she knew him.

"It's just Keith," Lance sighed "ignore him, he's an asshole."

"Keith?" Finn frowned as they walked in the front door 

"Yeah, remember he was the lineman for the team last year?" Lance asked and it suddenly hit her, she did know who he was "got kicked off the team for being suspended a couple times."

"What did he do?" 

"Apparently vandalised school property." Lance shrugged as they walked down a corridor "I never liked him anyway, he's always been that rude."

"He was also the only guy on the team who gave you a run for your money." Hunk commented

"Did not!" Lance snapped "urgh, my homerooms this way - we'll catch you guys at lunch."

"Bye." Finn smiled, as Lance and Pidge walked away down the corridor. Hunk and her going to other for their first day back for senior year.


	2. Shirogane

"Jesus Christ I should of stretched more during the summer." Finn heaved as she was helped up from the splits pulling down the skirt of her cheer uniform.

"Slacking off again, Finn?" Shay laughed with a kind smile, cheer captain this year and a lovely girl, Finn thought highly of her. They'd been on the same team for 3 years now, I mean sure she'd dropped Finn once while they were trying to pull off a flying hip roller but all was forgiven now"Mhh, at least we get a view of the boys practising." She smirked, nodding towards where the football team were doing passing drills. Finn laughed and turned to where she was looking. She instantly saw Lance and Hunk, Lance looked over too and smiled, shooting her a cheery wave before his coach threw a ball to his gut.

"Eyes front, McClain!" he barked, causing Shay and Finn to dissolve into giggles. Going back to practising for the first match of the year in a few weeks. They always tried to start the year with a bang with an amazing routine at the opening game for the Lions. Finn never particularly wanted to be a cheerleader, just on her first day of school Lance was her only friend and tried out for football, she thought she'd give it a go: I mean, she'd always been pretty flexible so maybe it would be okay.

And it was how she'd met Pidge, who played Saxophone in the marching band, that was as the cheer squad and the band had to practice together a lot to work out music to go to routines. Before she'd really known Shay she'd saw Pidge standing by herself, looking like a scared Freshman and she felt the same. So she went up and talked to her.  
Finn and Pidge didn't have much in common, Finn had given her the nickname of Pidge - which stemmed from Pigeon as one landed on the end of her Sax a few weeks into their first ever semester. In all honestly, Pidge kinda liked the name. She liked the fact there was a name only her inner circle of friends called her, plus they never said it to be mean - only as a nickname.

So at lunch Pidge tagged along with Finn who sat down in her usual seat across from Lance and Hunk, who had hit it off on the first day at football and were thick as thieves ever since. It was from the first moment the words "Star Wars" left her mouth that Lance knew he had it _bad_. They blabbered for the whole of the lunch hour about the movie franchise and bitched about the prequels. 

It was sort of a slow decent into a crushing love for this girl for Lance. It was little things he found endearing, he knew Pidge was a total computer whiz and would sometimes whack out the laptop while they had lunch and work on one of her top secret projects. Lance liked the way her tongue stuck between her teeth while she concentrated, how she pushed up her glasses more than usual. It was cute as hell.

Not to mention they loved all the same video games, both agreeing that the GameCube was way better than the Nintendo 64. That caused a big discussion at the table as personally, Finn and Hunk disagreed with such a ridiculous statement.  
Cue, three years of pining and dating other cheerleaders who were nice they just... weren't her. Pidge was oblivious. Lance always teased her and flirted with other girls, how was she supposed to know? If she knew she'd jump on the change in a millisecond.   
So, three years of mutual pining which lead to nothing. Hunk was oblivious, Finn knew. She just couldn't figure out a way to get them together.

"Hurry up, Shirogane!" Lance laughed as they walked for his car when all their practices ended. Lance and Hunk had changed as getting into his knew car mud caked was not a good thing. Pidge and Finn still in uniform. Finn jumped into the front seat, clicking her belt in and grabbing on to the seat. Lance was not the best of drivers. How he ever passed his test defied all logic.

"Lance, can you drop me at the mechanics?" Finn asked, racking through her bag after they dropped of Hunk at his home "I think I left my keys at home, I'll need to steal my brother's."

"Sure no problem." Lance said as he came to an abrupt halt outside Pidge's house.

"Jesus, Lance." Pidge snapped, rubbing where her skin had rubbed into the seat belt painfully "how did you even pass your test?"

"The girl doing my test was cute." Lance grinned cheekily

"Of course." Pidge sighed with an eyeroll "I'll see you guys tomorrow." and with that she got out of the car and slammed the door.

"Smooth, Lance." Finn sighed as he took of the curb

"No idea what you mean..." he sighed, the girl glances over at him. His face was blank but his eyes screamed that he rejretted that comment. Finn sighed and rolled her eyes, they were both so clueless, she thought as Lance swerved into the parking spaces outside the mechanic her older brother worked in.

"You wanna come in and see Takashi?" 

"I better not, I gotta start that essay for biology tonight and I know he'll smooth talk me into staying for dinner." Lance laughed "tell him I say hi."

"Will do." she giggled, stepping out the car "see you tomorrow."

Lance reversed out the spot with a small wave in her direction before taking a right in the direction of his house. Her older brother was very fond of her best friend. lance had been there for her when their father past away when Finn was in middle school when it really broke him and he couldn't be there like he wished.   
Finn had never knew her mother, Shiro just barely as she took off when he was 5, just after Finn was born. The two of them had been as close to their dad as humanly possible after that, their childhoods were amazing despite the struggle for money. Their dad always made sure they were cared for. It broke them when he died. A long battle with an illness that eventually took him. He knew, however, that he was near the end and left everything he had to his children. Including the house as Shiro was old enough to be Finn's legal guardian. He left a sizeable amount of money that Shiro locked in a savings account to pay for Finn's college prices and worked his butt of between college and work to make ends meet and put food on the table. Finn loved her brother more than anything.

Their dad had worked in the mechanic in the small town where they lived and when Shiro had been helping out since he was 10, so when he was old enough to have a job they took him on full time. That being where he met Allura, who came in to get the oil changed for her car and left with Shiro's number and a smile on her face. Finn loved her aswell, she healed him. He was lost after their dad passed. Even Finn and his relationship wobbled a bit. Which is why he was always thankful she had Lance there for her.

"Takashi?" Finn yelled into the seemingly empty garage

"Finn?" came his voice from under one of the cars and the girl jumped as he slid out on a skateboard and looked up at her "Thought you said Lance was giving you a ride home?"

"Forgot my keys." she smiled sheepishly

"Somethings never change." Shiro laughed and clambered to his feet, there was a black smudges on his hands as he wiped them on a rag "I get off in 15 minutes anyway, you wanna hang around?"

"Sure." she nodded

"There's coke's in the office fridge, I'll unlock it for you." her brother smiled and she followed him towards the little windowed office in the corner of the place.

"Mr Jennkins not in today?" she asked as the door swung open and Shiro let her in to the office.

"No, on a vacation with the wife to somewhere in the Caribbean." her brother laughed in response "'a second honey moon' he said."

"Shiro?" called a voice as Finn cracked one of the cokes from the fridge. She turned and recognised the boy from today, Keith in one of the jumpsuits, black oil smudged on his cheek.

"Yeah?" the older boy replied

"The rench just got jammed on that Cadillac again." Keith sighed

"Again?" Shiro sighed "I'll let you use mine, it's a bit bigger."

"Thanks..." Keith said, looking over at Finn as if just noticing she was here.

"Right, where's my manners?" Shiro chuckled "This is my little sister, Persephone." he introduced and she groaned.

"It's Finn." she shook her head. Her mother really hated her to name her such a dumb name. Her dad had nicknamed her Finn and she intended to change it legally the second she turned 18 in 6 months "it's Keith, right?"

"Right..." he said, slightly shocked the cute cheerleader knew his name. She probably just knew him from the team, he thought to himself.

"You know each other?" Shiro asked

"Yeah, Keith's in my homeroom class." she smiled. Keith felt his cheeks redden a little. She knew who he was from homeroom?

"Ah, of course, I forgot you went to Garrison." Shiro smiled "anyway, I'll get you that rench."

"Nice to meet you." she waved to Keith, which totally caught him off guard.

"Yeah, you too, I guess..." he muttered, following her brother. The slightly hostile answer made her frown. Did she do something wrong?

 


	3. Down The Coast

Finn groaned into her pillow as incessant beeping from her alarm clock lulled her from sleep. Her eyes flicked to the clock, half six. Another groan erupted from the back of her throat and she dragged herself out of her bed.   
Every morning before school she dragged her ass on a run, mostly to just keep up her stamina and muscles to pull off difficult moves for cheer but also so she could eat as much chocolate as she pleased and not worry.   
Sleepily grabbing her sports crop and leggings she yanked on her shoes and stumbled down the stairs as he pulled her hair into a high pony, shoving in headphones and slipping out the door quietly as to not wake her brother. She smiled at the slight cold pinch to the morning air, the sun had already been up for a maybe 10 minutes or so, so the sky was a pretty orange colour. Blasting the music off her favourite band into her headphones as she took off into a run. She headed for the coast line, always enjoying running by the sea as salty air always cleared her sinuses.   
She made it to her usual half way point and stopped, lungs heaving as she looked for a better song to change it to when she noticed a figure sitting down in the sand at the beach. It took a couple of seconds for her to recognise the long black hair and it clicked it was Keith.  
Curiosity getting the better of her she walked towards him, he was lent over a sketchbook, a load of colour pencils in his hands as he sketched the sunrise.

"Keith?" she asked gently and he jumped, the pencil flying from his hand.

"Jesus, don't scare me like that!" he barked and her eyes widened

"Sorry.." she muttered

He sighed "what is it?"

"I.. I just saw you and... wondered what you were doing..." she replied sheepishly, Keith looked over at her through his fringe, raising an eyebrow as she reached down to pick up his pencil - sitting next to him and holding it out.

"If I don't get the sun while it's rising the colours aren't as good as when I draw from pictures." he said quietly, snatching it back. She peered round his shoulder end her eyes widened at the beautiful coloured art on a page of his sketch book.

"That's beautiful." she smiled

"Th-thanks." he mumbled, still sketching away "Why are you out so early?" he asked, not looking up from his book.

"Run." she shrugged

"Ah, I imagine the cheer leading life is a hard one." he said sarcastically and she cocked an eyebrow. What as asshole.

"More like I can eat all of Takashi's chocolate chip cookies in one sitting and not give a shit." Keith snorted a small laugh and her eyes widened "so you do smile?"

He rolled his eyes "of course I do."

"You should do it more often, it suits you." she responded, leaning back on the balls of her hands. He hummed absently, his hand moving across the page.

"I guess I'll see you at school." she said, getting to her feet and dusting sand off her leggings.

"I guess." he deadpanned, she rolled her eyes and headed for the path. She stopped and turned round, looking at his back as he sketched away.

"Hey, Keith?"

"What?"

"Your a really talented artist." she smiled, before turning to the road. Unaware of the beet red the boy had gone at her comment, smiling down at the sunset image in his lap. As Finn reached the path she started jogging home, unaware of Keith watching her as she headed home. His lips turned into a slight smile as he turned back to his page.

As Finn walked in the front door she could smell coffee and knew her brother was up, the boy couldn't function without caffeine.

"Takashi?" he called, her voice a little strained and out of breath.

"Kitchen." came his response and she walked in to see him hunched over his laptop, furiously typing away on his laptop. She smiled, leaning down to peck his cheek. He smiled slightly "how was the run?"

"Not bad," she shrugged "I actually ran into Keith on the beach."

Shiro frowned "at 7am?"

"Yeah," she cocked a brow "he was drawing the sunrise."

Her brother sighed "his mother must of kicked him out again." he muttered

"What?" Finn frowned

He gave me one of his classic empathetic smile "not everyone's guardians are as good as me. He doesn't help himself..."

"How do you know that?" Finn asked, horrified.

"Caught him sleeping in the mechanics a few weeks ago, he didn't say much but it's quite obvious..." he ran a hand through his dark hair "anyway, I'm sure he wouldn't like us talking like this. I made your lunch, it's in the fridge."

"Thanks, Takashi..." she said vaguely, face set into a frown at that information.

"Hey, Finn." Shiro said gently and she looked over "don't think too much about it, he's earning his way out of that house now."

"Okay." she sighed and left the room, heading up the stairs for a shower.

x

"Earth to Finn?" Lance waved his hand in front of her face and she snapped out the daze she was in. She snapped her head up from where she'd been staring at her sandwich, lost in thought for 10 minutes straight.

"Hmm?" she hummed.

"Are you okay?" Pidge asked "you've been staring at your pb and j for ages..."

"Sorry, just a little tired." she laughed, shaking her head "what did I miss?"

"Bitching about the art assignment." Hunk sighed, the only one of the teenagers who didn't take the subject.

"Oh, I missed art yesterday - did I miss the partner assignments?"

"Unfortunately." Lance smiled "if you go see Ms Spouse she'll probably let you know who your paired up with."

"I'll just do that now." she said, dropping her sandwich back into it's box

"But you've barely eaten anything." Hunk frowned

"Finish it for me, I'm not hungry." she chuckled as she got to her feet

"I knew there was a reason I liked you, Finn." Hunk jokes and she laughed as she left the cafeteria. Lance looked after her with mild concern written all over his face. She was acting very dazed and different today. She sighed as she look up the stairs for the art department off he school. As she reached her art class she knocked gently.

"Come in." came her teachers voice and she poked her head round the door. Mr Spouse was sitting at his desk, when she entered she noticed Keith standing there too.

"Ah perfect timing, Miss Shirogane." he smiled "I was just telling Mr Kogane here that you two will be paired together for the assignment."

"Oh," she said "alright."

"Since you both missed my class the other day." he went on and she stopped next to Keith at his desk "it's a portraiture project based on colour and tone, you have to draw the other person as you see them. Not as they see themselves." he gave them a stern look "due in two weeks. Dismissed."

"Yes, sir." Finn sighed. Great. Paired with the guy who was out of school more than he was in school. The two of them let, walking down the stairs in a suffocating awkward silence.

"So, uh, do you wanna meet this weekend or something to do this?" Finn asked as they stopped in the hall, it was met with a cold stare and a huff and she sighed impatiently "look, I don't wanna be paired with you as much as you don't want me, but we're stuck with each other and we both have to pass this assignment, so could you not be an ass for 5 minutes?"

His eyes widened as the angry words slipped off the small and kinda adorable girls tongue. He sighed and looked away, knowing she was right but refusing to admit it to her "Fine."

"Good, so Saturday?" she asked "my place? No doubt Takashi will bake if he knows your coming."

Keith smiled slightly and nodded "alright."

She smiled back "there's that smile, see I told you you should do it more often." she let off a tinkling laugh and Keith felt heat rise to his cheeks "see you Saturday." she smiled again before heading down the hall, leaving Keith staring after her. Kinda bewildered.

 


	4. Daydreamer

"You actually baked cookies?" Finn laughed as she walked into the kitchen that Saturday to see her older brother with his bangs pushed out his eyes with two of Finn's kirby slides and a tray of hot cookies in front of him. She reached for one and had her hand batted away.

"You have guests coming over, be polite."

She shot him a look before laughing "yeah yeah alright," she sighed "hey, Takashi... what's Keith like?"

"Polite, kinda quiet." Shiro shrugged "hard working..."

"He seems like an ass to me." Finn sighed, reaching for a cookie. Her brother didn't stop her this time as she bit into the gooey, warm cookie.

"Defensive mechanism." Shiro shrugged "he doesn't really like people I don't think, you kinda have to break through an icy exterior."

"Still, wouldn't kill him to be polite." Finn shrugged, looking over her shoulder as the doorbell rang "that'll be him."

"I'll leave you two to it, I have to go to college in an hour anyway." Shiro smiled as she went for the door. She pulled it open to Keith standing there, bag slouched over his shoulder and a sketch book in his hands.

"Hey." she smiled and he turned to her. A small blush rising to his cheeks. She looked a lot more casual that she did in school, glossy dark hair wrapped into a bun, oversized t-shirt and plain black leggings. Not much makeup from what he could tell.

"Hi." he managed, walking in as she opened the door for him. Instantly the smell of sweet baking hit his nose.

"Hey Keith." Shiro smiled as he walked past in the hall, holding one of his own cookies and a mug of coffee in the other hand.

"Hi, Shiro, how are you?" Keith smiled slightly

"I'm good, nice to see you again. I'll leave you two to your project, I'll be up stairs if you need anything." he said

"Thanks, Takashi." his sister smiled as he walked up the stairs, she nodded for Keith to follow her into their living room. He did so, the house was not what he was expecting. Usually the girls on the cheer squad lived in fancy houses and their daddy's bought them cars. She lived in a rather cramped house and wore nerdy shirts, as he now realised the image on her shirt was of some 80's cartoon his dad used to watch "you want something to drink?"

"Sure." he nodded, putting his bag down on the floor.

"Coke?" she asked, cracking one a can for herself and taking a sip. Keith smiled and nodded. She was full of surprises as she crammed a cookie into her mouth and took the plate through, offering the plate to him. He took one and mumbled a thank you, she flopped down on the couch and he followed awkwardly, perched on the edge as she pushed a can towards him, tucking her legs under him.

"So, do you have any ideas?" she asked curiously

"Just one." he said through a mouthful of cookie "well, he wants us to use colour and tone so like why don't we use them totally sperately? No black touches colour."

She hummed and smiled at him "I like that."

Keith felt himself smile as well, she seemed to bring out the smile in him as he nodded "the whole point of this dumb assignment is to put people with other people they don't sit with." he sighed.

"What is it with adults and forcing teenagers into awkward situations?" she laughed and he found himself doing the same. Bizarre. He thought to himself. His laugh hadn't felt so genuine in a long time.

"I think for this to work we have to get to know each other a bit better, if we have to paint each other how we see each other."

She nodded "yeah, did you get the notice from Mr Spouse?  We have to present it in front of the class as well."

"Yeah." he groaned

"Again with the awkward situations," she grinned and he laughed, leaning back on the couch "tell me something about yourself then?" she grinned

"I don't know what to say.." he frowned

"Anything... what's your favourite colour?" she smiled, brushing loose strands of her behind her ear.

"My favourite _colour_?" he repeated incredulously

"Just humour me." she smirked

"Red." he sighed

"See, now I know something I didn't know before." she grinned and he smiled, shaking his head at her.

"What's yours then?" he asked, she hummed "is it that hard of a question?"

"Just let me think." she giggled "uh.. purple..."

"You don't sound sure?" he laughed

"Well, I don't want any of the other colours to feel left out." she grinned at him and he laughed.

"You're so strange." he shook his head, though still smiling. Finn thought how genuinely nice he looked with that smile on his face instead of the sour scowl he usually wore. He almost looked... pretty. It was then she blushed when it occur ed to her how actually good looking he was. Thick eyelashes framed dark, indigo eyes. His jaw was sharp as well as his cheek bones, she even noticed the faintest smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose.

 _Shit_ , he was cute.

"Finn?" he cocked an eyebrow

"Sorry, I tuned out." she blushed harder, looking away.

"Day dreamer." he smiled "so, what music do you like?"

She hummed "anything old school, The Beatles, Elvis, Zeppelin - sign me up." she looked at him to see his eyebrow still raised "what?"

"Nothing," he shook his head "just not what I was expecting."

"I'm a total sucker for video game soundtracks as well." she laughed

"You... play video games?"

"Yeah." she laughed "raised on them, my dad worked in Nintendo in Tokyo for the first 5 years of my life."

"You lived in Japan?" he asked curiously

"Yeah." she smiled "my dad was Japanese so we lived there until his job moved us to America." Keith couldn't help but notice her referring to her father in the past tense but decided not to mention it. He was curious as to why they had no parents around during the day on a Saturday. Though there was an obvious conclusion and he should definitely not ask.

"I didn't know that." he smiled "no offence but you have the most posh, white girl name ever."

"Don't get me started." she shook her head "my father named Takashi so my mother wanted to name me." she sighed heavily and shook her head "I'm gonna change it to Finn when I hit 18." there was a pause "god, we're talking about me way to much." she laughed awkwardly "what kinda music do you like?"

"Much the same." he smiled, she seemed glad at the change of direction "Thin Lizzy?"

"Love them." she beamed

"Aerosmith?"

"Obviously," she smirked "have Pump on Viynl."

"Damn I bet that sounds good." he breathed

"Wanna listen?" she asked

"Yeah." he laughed and she got to her feet, there was a huge record player int he corner "that was such a stellar album, I mean, with Love In An Elevator, Janie's Got a Gun and F.I.N.E it was gonna smash."

"Couldn't agree more." she laughed as she slid the viynl out the sleeve and carefully slotted it in. It was nice for her to see him so enthusiastic about something. Keith smiled as the first few lines of Young Lust blasted out. It reminded him of childhood. Before his Dad left, Keith had lived in Southern Louisiana, what little he remembers of his father was riding in his old Chevy with the windows down and hot air blowing across his face.

"Keith?" Finn waved a hand in front of his face and he snapped out his daze.

"Sorry... tuned out..." he chuckled

"Daydreamer." she smirked, quoting him from earlier and he chuckled softly. Keith stayed for nearly 4 hours and they just talked, what Zeppelin album was the best. Whether the GameCube was better than the 64. Keith agreed with Lance and Pidge about the GameCube, lead to 1 20 minute discussion and a few rounds of Mario Cart, in which Finnwon and had to deal with Keith sulking for abother 20 minutes. It was dark out by the time he was leaving.

"You gonna get home okay?" she asked

"I'll be fine." he sighed

"Same time next week? We should probably actually draw something next time." she grinned

He chuckled "yeah, sounds good, see you then."

"Bye, Keith." she smiled and he headed down their drive way.

"See you Monday." he smiled to himself, walking back in the direction of his house.


	5. Anxiety

"Morning, Finn." came Pidge's voice as she appeared next to the girl who was pulling books out of her locker. Finn had given one of the other kids from the marching band 5 dollars to switch with her in freshman year so the two were next to her. Lance and Hunk both miles way across campus and were kinda salty about it.

"Hey, Pidge." she smiled, pulling out her chemistry text books.

"So, how was your weekend?" the short girl yawned "was it awkward with Keith?"

"Not at all," she shook her head "actually, I kinda had fun."

"Really?" she cocked an eyebrow as Finn slammed her locker closed and the two started walking to their Chemistry class.

"Yeah, he's actually pretty nice. I think he's just kinda antisocial." Finn shrugged

Pidge hummed, Finn knew she didn't like a lot of people. Honestly, it was an honour to be her friend "I guess so, there's probably more to him that people see." Finn smiled at her as they rounded a corner. They stopped as they saw the corridor was blocked by some kids watching something.

"The hell is going on?" Pidge frowned and they walked over

"Come on, faggot, at least jump for it?" Finn was immediately seething with anger as she saw some of the dickheads from the basketball team surrounding Keith. One of them holding his sketchbook just out of reach, she noticed the contents of his bag were spilled all over the floor as well. She growled in the back of her throat, the basketball team were forever mad that the school funding usually went into football. But given they hadn't won a game in nearly 10 years what did they expect. So they were just always massive assholes to everyone.

"Just give it back!" Keith barked

"Fine, no need to get so jumpy!" the guy laughed, holding it out to Keith, he reached for it warily when another one of the boys kicked his ankles together, sending him to the ground with a painful sounding thud. This snapped Finn's patience and she pushed through the kids just watching.

"Knock it off, Martin!" she sighed

"Woah, if it isn't queen cheerleader." he laughed. He didn't particularly like her after she turned him down for prom last year. Opting to go alone rather than with him.

"Just give him his stuff back and stop being an asshole." she sighed

"Why should I?" he smirked, dangling Keith's sketchbook in front of her.

"Because if you don't I might just have to tell everyone here you tried to get me to go out with you by sending my a dick pick and I opened it by accident at cheer practice and they all laughed." she smiled sweetly "I mean dude, it was smaller than your palm."

All of the kids around them erupted into laughter and she smiled as his face went bright red. She normally wasn't so mean. In fact, she was never mean but she hated people who tried to make themselves feel good by being an asshole to other people."

"Whatever." he snapped, throwing Keith's sketchbook to the ground "come on, guys!" and with that they took off down the corridor, his friends having to hold back sniggers. She sighed a breath of relief as kids dispersed and she crouched down to scoop up his sketchbook. Pidge smiled and mouthed that she'd see her at lunch before leaving with other kids.

"Are you okay?" she smiled to him, dusting off the book. He was hunched over and seemed to be breathing erratically "Keith?"

"I... I can't... breathe..." he managed, gripping on to his hair. _Shit_. He was having a panic attack. She knew from the handful of times Shiro has had one.

"Keith." she said gently, holding out her hand "can you take my hand? You need fresh air." Keith was violently shaking all over, his hands pulling out his hair as his breathing laboured but his hand shakily reached out and she helped him to his feet, taking his bag for him and heading for the front door. Keith felt ever so slightly better as the outside air washed over him, Finn lead him to a bench and sat him down.

"Okay, Keith, can you focus on me?" she said gently, he looked up and her heart cracked slightly as his eyes were red, tears streaming down his face as he gasped for breaths "breathe with me." she took both of his hands "squeeze my hands on the inhales and let go on exhale, okay?"

He managed a nod and she breathed in through her nose loudly.

"1... 2 ... 3... 4... 5... 6...7..." he did as he was told, sucking in as much air through his nostrils as he could, Finn felt his fingers tighten around hers as she counted.

"and out... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6...7 ...8..."

They sat for 15 minutes, Finn giving gentle words of encouragement and his breathing slowly but surely slowed down into normal breaths. There was a few moments of silence, Keith's hands still in hers as he just sat with his eyes closed, looking at him lap. Finn gently ran her thumb over his in a soothing manner and he sighed.

"Sorry." he managed. His voice was raspy and strained and barely even came out ".. you had to see that."

"Don't apologise." she said softly and he looked up at her.

"How.. did you know what to do?" he asked, sniffing, making no move to pull his hands from hers. Actually, kinda enjoying how warm they were, soft and small in his.

"Takashi has regular nightmares," she sighed "they sometimes give him panic attacks."

He nodded "thanks.. for not freaking out."

"There was nothing to freak out about." she smiled gently

"Thank you.." he mumbled "what you did... that really helped."

"Its nothing." she shook her head "you look kinda pale, maybe you should go home?"

He nodded "I think I should." he slid her hands from hers and she instantly missed the warmth. Keith's hands weren't particularly large, but he had long fingers she noticed. They were almost pretty "um, thanks... for sticking up for me.."

"Don't mention it." she smiled "they're assholes anyway."

"What you said to him... was that true?" he smiled slightly and she was glad to see it.

"Yeah.." she shuddered slightly "boy needed to take no for an answer, honestly didn't even mean to open his snapchat at cheer.." Keith chuckled slightly, brushing his hair from his eyes, he looked exhausted "go home and sleep, okay?"

"Yeah." he said vaguely, both of them getting to their feet. Finn handed him his bag with a smile and he sighed, return it weakly as he took it from her.

"Hey, Finn?" Keith said

"Yeah?"

"You're not what I thought you'd be." he said quietly, then smiled at her "I'll see you tomorrow." He turned and left her with a blush spreading across her face as he made for the school exit.


	6. Milkshakes

"Good morning!" Finn sang as she slumped down in her chair next to Keith in art a few days later.

"Morning." he said back bluntly.

"Who shit in your cornflakes?" she smirked, leaning on her hand. Keith's eyes widened and he look at her before laughing. 

"Sorry, you want me to sing it from the rooftops? It's fucking raining, Finn, it's not that great of a morning." he said, his lips tugging upwards as she let off a cute giggle.

"You're totally right," she shook her head, spinning her pencil round in her hand "so... you coming to the game tonight?"

"Good one." he shook his head "no way."

"Oh, come on, Keith - where's that Lion's spirit?" she said sarcastically and he cocked a dark eyebrow at her "can't you come after work? Don't try lying and say you're not working, I know Takashi's work schedule."

"Finn..." he sighed

"Please?" she grinned "Takashi can give you a ride?"

"I don't know..." he mumbled

"At least stay 'till I get to do my cheer at half time?" she said, jutting her bottom lip out and batting eyelashes at him and he totally crumbled. He was totally weak for those light grey eyes and really thick eyelashes.... finding a blush rising to his cheeks he looked away.

"F-fine..." he stumbled and she beamed, making him smile slightly. It was then Mr Spouse strolled in and the class fell into silence.

x

Finn jumped as her phone buzzed as she fixed her hair in the mirror, they'd been ordered to tie their hair into high ponytails with brand new Garrison Lions scrunchies. She reached for her phone and saw a message from Lance as she read it there was a loud honk from outside where the boy had grown impatient in the 10 seconds since he sent the message. She rolled her eyes and grabbed her gym bag from the floor, brushing down the black skirt of her cheer uniform and grabbing Shiro's old tracksuit shirt he'd grown out of but she wore to death. Loving it cause it had "Shirogane" written on the back and was for the boys on the football team. She ran out the front door to see her 3 best friends waiting outside in Lance's car that had the roof down. Not even bothering to open the door she jumped into the back seat beside Pidge.

"There _is_ a handle." Lance chuckled, as she clicked in her seat belt.

"I know." she smiled cheekily. Lance rolled his eyes, still in his casual clothes before he got changed in the locker rooms. Finn was actually quite fond of her cheer leading outfit. Black with LIONS printed across the chest. Bands of Blue, red, yellow and green going round the edges. Pidge was dressed up in her marching band uniform, the hat in her lap and the saxophone case on the seat next to her.

"You better crush the Panthers." Finn smiled to Lance in the mirror who smirked as he pulled into the parking lot of the school - which was jam packed full of kids milling about and parents. They all clambered out the car and Finn's phone went off again. She pulled it out seeing her brother had texted her to say he was here and was sitting with Keith in the bleachers. Finn's face lit up that he'd actually come.

"I'll catch you guys after the game!" Lance grinned, running after the other boys from the team.

"Takashi says he's in the stalls if you wanna sit with him, Hunk?" Finn said as they walked into the pitch. It was crammed full of people, kids walking round with various amounts of junk food.

"Yeah, sounds good." Hunk smiled as she scanned the bleachers for her brother. Hunk was the only one of them not in a co-curricular team like this but still showed up to every game to watch them.

"Finn!" she heard him call and her eyes locked on to her brother, Allura sitting beside him, Keith on the other side. She grinned and waved, walking up the stairs and scooting down a bleachers to her brother.

"Hey!" he grinned, scooting over to let her sit in between him and Keith "ready for the first game of the season?"

"We're gonna crush 'em!" She grinned and Shiro laughed, taking a piece of popcorn from the bucket Allura was holding. Finn turned to Keith "you came!"

"Yeah..." he said with a small smile, he opened his mouth to say something else.

"Finn!" came a shout and she turned to see Shay waving at her "we're about to start the welcome cheer!"

"Coming!" she called back, standing up "I might catch you at half time." she said to them, she stood up and zipped down Shiro's sweater. Keith felt a blush rise to his cheeks as he suddenly had a lot of her bare skin in his face. Her midriff was exposed and he had to tear his eyes away from a cute mole a few inches to the right of her navel.

"Wish me luck!" she beamed

"Good luck!" Allura beamed as she clambered down the bleachers and had a pair of rainbow pom poms shoved into her hands. The opening cheer was never as amazing as the half time show, whenever there was a home game the cheer squad put on an insane dance with a load of flips, splits and throws. Keith was still entranced by it, he didn't watch anyone but her. Eyes trained on every move, almost bulging out his head as she bent her leg into a Y slits. Damn, she was bendy.

Keith found himself blushing increasingly more. She was smiling the whole time. A genuine smile as she was thrown into a back flip and his eyes widened as she slid into the side splits as the routine finished and the football team ran on to the court. The cheerleaders job during the game was to mostly to stand and look pretty at the side, getting the crowd riled up by being pretty and to cheer for the team.

Keith's blush deepened further when she locked eyes with him while she was standing doing their usual cheer. Consisting of the very intricate LETS GO LIONS! She beamed and waved a pom pom at him and he raised a hand to give a small wave back.

 _Well, shit._ He thought to himself. He totally liked her.

"That's half time!" Shiro grinned as the boys ran off the pitch with the Lions in a 9 point lead "watch this, it's insane." he smiled at Keith "also gets me a little worried as her guardian since she's being thrown 10 feet in the air but still."

"10 feet?" Keith's eyes widened, Shiro smiled and nodded to where the cheerleaders were taking their places. The routine was crazy, Keith didn't know how they'd managed to get it so perfect in the month they'd been back to school. Well, she did go to cheer 4 out of 5 days after school, which was why they didn't meet for their project on those days. Keith and Finn had decided they were gonna do their portraits individually and reveal them in class. It was more Finn's idea but the way her eyes gleamed when she suggested it had Finn agreeing.

Finn, Shiro had always noted, was extremely dedicated and was always striving for something. Keith had started to see it too. Honestly, he'd judged her before. In general he did not like the cheer squad because of one incident with one of the girls but now he was learning that they were so much more than he thought. Finn in particular.

"They're always so amazing!" Allura grinned, resting her head on Shiro's shoulder "oh how I miss it."

Shiro and Allura had been the "it" couple of their time. The Captain of the football squad dated head cheerleader. But they'd fallen head over heels in love with each other and, contrary to popular belief, had stayed together for the proceeding years once High school ended. Finn adored Allura. Kind but forceful. She took no shit. An amazing female role model that she'd always lacked in her life.

"It was awesome, I've never seen the girls cheer before." Keith added, Shiro gave him a sideways glance. He knew Keith had been kicked from the team last year, he just didn't know why.

"I never missed the girls cheering." Shiro grinned, wrapping an arm around his girlfriends shoulder who laughed and nudged him fondly as the marching band came on to play.

The Lions got an easy victory and Keith shivered slightly in his red jacket as people started to mill out, he picked up Finn's jacket for her as they headed into the car park where she was standing talking with Lance and Pidge. Keith breathed a sigh of anxiety. He knew Lance had had some weird one sided rivalry against him since he got a higher score in football tryouts in freshman year. He shook his head sharply and walked over with Shiro and Allura. He noted Finn was shivering in her uniform and held her jacket to her.

"Oh, thanks Keith." she beamed and took it from him, pulling it over her shoulders.

"Why is he here?" lance raised an eyebrow

"I invited him." Finn shot back before smiling at Keith "hey, we're going out for milkshakes, first game tradition - you wanna join us?"

"I, uh..." he blushed.

"You gotta come man." Hunk clapped his shoulder you've not lived until you've tried Davy's Diner's shakes."

Keith was taken aback by the sudden kindness of a boy he'd probably only spoken 3 words to in his life.

"Are you kidding?" Pidge laughed "he's gotta have the fries as well, dude, they're like heaven sticks of pure goodness." she grinned up at him ad he was overwhelmed.

"O-okay.. sure." he smiled

"Whatever.." Lance sighed "I guess there's a free seat anyway."

"Turn that frown upside down!" Pidge smiled at him as they walked in the front, Finn slowing to walk beside Keith "you scored the winning touchdown, that's pretty great."

Finn smirked as she watched Lance's face go totally red "y-yeah!"

"You.." he started and then gulped as her grey eyes moved to meet his "you're routine was amazing..."

"You think?" she grinned "I messed up on the spin, totally over-rotated."

He smiled gently at her still picking apart something so good "no way, it was awesome."

"Thanks." her cheeks flushed a little

"I'll catch you at home later, Finn." Shiro squeezed her shoulder "have fun."

"Bye." she waved to her brother and his girlfriend as they headed for Shiro's car "come on!" she beamed at Keith, who's brain nearly malfunctioned as her small, warm hand grabbed on to his and tugged him after her friends "we'll get left behind."

 

I REALLY LOVED THIS ART AND THOUGHT THE CHEER UNIFORMS COULD BE LIKE WHAT KEITH MODELS HERE ;)


	7. Persephone's Flowers

"When are you kids not in here?" grinned one of the older waitresses, Viv, as the five kids walked through the door of Davy's Dinner. The kids came here whenever they needed to meet up, they had good food and decent prices. Also the place looked like it should be right out of Greece, the waitresses manoeuvred around on roller skates, everything was black, red and white - they floor check linoleum.

"Oh, hello - don't believe I've met you?" Viv smiled towards Keith, who stumbled to get something out.

"This is Keith," Finn explained for him "he's a friend of mine."

As Keith blushed that she'd referred to him as a friend, Viv smiled - saying it was nice to meet him as she lead them towards one of the booths. Hunk, Pidge and Lance all crammed into once side as Finn claimed Pidge and Lance's asses were smaller. Finn slid into the booth by the window and Keith followed just after.

"I don't know why I'm even looking at the menu," Finn laughed as she scanned the sheet in front of her before folding id and putting it back "I never change my order."

"What are you getting?" Keith asked, staring at the huge expanse of the menu in front of him and not knowing where to start.

"Strawberry milkshake and Cajun curly fries," she grinned "best on the menu." This then sparked a debate across the table about whether the curly fries or straight fries were better, Hunk agreed with Finn. Lance and Pidge lived the straight fries life.

"Keith, what do you think?" Pidge asked, getting flustered about her current debate with Hunk.

"I... I'd have to try them." he said with a smile. _Why were these people being so nice to him?_ Was the thought that blared through his head constantly. 

"If you get straight we can share?" Finn grinned and it made Keith blush more at the idea.

"S-sure." he managed as Viv skated back over and skidded to a halt.

"I assume they regulars for you four," she said "how about you, sweetheart?" she asked Keith, who gave his order and she grinned and nodded, scrawling it down across her note pad before skating away.

"So, how is your guys art assignment coming on?" Pidge asked Finn and Keith over the table, so far the only one of Finn's friends to pick up on her sappy smiles towards him and how much he blushed around her.

"I.. started it the other day." Keith said quietly

"You've started it?" Finn asked with a smile.

"Yeah." he nodded smiling in the direction of the table.

"Well, I know what I'm going to paint I just haven't started yet." Finn said, turning back to Pidge "how about you guys?"

"Pretty good." Pidge nodded

"I hate my partner." Lance sighed and then went on a long tangent about how annoying he was. Over the table, Keith's heart was thumping in his chest when he felt Finn's warm thigh press into his. He glanced over at her and she let off a laugh at something Lance had said and he smiled, turning back and actually listening to what the boy was saying.

"Order up." Viv came back over to their table and started putting down their huge expanse of food.

"Thank god." Finn said, cramming about 6 fries into her mouth "I've been eating lettuce and smoothies all week, Shay is an actual slave driver."

"Wasn't it worth it though?" Hunk asked

"Sticking up for your girlfriend are we?" Lance wiggled his eyebrows, Hunk went red and they all laughed.

"She totally likes you too, Hunk, ask her out," Finn smiled "it's just painful to watch."

"Shut up." he mumbled, slurping down some milkshake.

"Hunk's repressed feelings aside," Pidge said "Keith, have you tried the fries yet? Your decision is a deal breaker for once we'll have 3 to 2."

"Oh, right." Keith nodded and took one of the normal fries out of the basket in front of him and chewed.

"Good, right?" Pidge pressed and he nodded "try the curly fries."

"Wait!" Finn grinned "he has to cleanse his palette." with that she pushed her milkshake towards him and his cheeks flushed as he sucked some up the straw, all off his brain screaming INDIRECT KISS, and she then pushed her fries toward him and he took one. He chewed for a second.

"Curly fries are better." he stated and Finn cheered, Pidge and Lance yelled something incoherent. Keith wasn't listening as Finn's arm dropped around his shoulders.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you, Kogane." she beamed and he flushed pink

"Ah, so your my friend for my interest in curly fries?" he chuckled as Hunk, Pidge and Lance started debating on the other side of the table. She giggled and retreated her arm, taking a slurp of her milkshake.

"That and your taste in music." she smiled and he laughed with her. Man, he hadn't laughed this much in a long time.

x

Finn smiled down at the painting of Keith she'd managed to finish early in the morning as she pulled it from her locker. It had taken her forever, although she wasn't particularly artistically gifted she was proud of the work she'd done. She'd painted Keith in crazy colours, like crazy, expressive colours and brush stokes and then painted the background black and white. Keith to her was like an enigma, very mysterious but also.. kinda adorable. e had a tough shell that just needed cracking, once you got to know him he was a total marshmallow. She was kinda curious to see what he'd painted of her as well as totally nervous. Keith was an incredible artist, she was growing to realise. As she slid into the classroom she saw him sat in his chair with his headphones in, falling asleep with his head in his hand. She couldn't help but note the canvas facing down on his desk. She did the same with hers before sitting next to him. He didn't even stir so she ripped the headphone from his ear and he jumped awake.

"You're an asshole." he yawned, blinking into the light of the room and she smiled at the cuteness, pushing the earbud into her ear to hear Blackbird playing softly.

"Good choice, sleeping beauty." she smiled "ready to present these things?"

"Yeah." Keith said quietly. In all honesty, the last couple of weeks had been the best ever. Getting to know Finn and being excepted by a group of friends.. it was something he'd never had before. He was worried that once this project was over.. she'd never talk to him again.

"Keith?" she waved a hand in front of his face and he snapped out of his daze. Shit, had she been talking? "you in or out?"

"Of what?" he frowned

"You're such a daydreamer." she giggled "the movies this weekend, Lance is dying to see this new movie and he's too chicken shit to take Pidge alone so he invited me, not really feeling being a third wheel - you wanna come?"

He blushed "s-sure..."

"Awesome!" she grinned "you're a lifesaver, I don't want to crash their date - given I've watched 3 years of pining so I thought it might be better if I brought someone too."

 _Was this a date?_ Keith nearly had an aneurysm as she smiled softly over at him. it was then Mr Spouse walked in and they fell into silence. Listening to the other people was actually quite interesting but Keith sat stewing in anxiety. What if she hates it?

"Alright, last up - Keith Kogane and Persephone Shirogane." Mr Spouse said and Finn clicked her tongue in irritation at the use of her full name "Finn, you're up first."

"Right." she nodded and grabbed her canvas, walking to the front and sucking a breath through her nose. She placed the canvas on the stand and the class looked at it.

"Wow, excellent use of colour." Mr Spouse nodded "care to explain why you depicted Keith in this way."

"Sure." she squeaked, swallowing down the lump in her throat "uh, before this project I don't think I'd ever spoken more that a sentence to Keith, but now I'd like to say we're friends. Getting to know him was great, I found out that he has one of the most vibrant personalities I know. The background is grey because well, the world isn't a great place. But I think, Keith bring's colour to it." she blushed and looked at her shoes "so... yeah..."

Mr Spouse hummed "Very well, good job - please sit." he nodded and Finn took her work, her face flushed as she retreated to her chair. She passed Keith on the way there, who smiled at her - his cheeks a cute pink colour as he took her place. He breathed as well, looking at his work before placing it up too. Finn's breath caught in her throat at the beautiful painting. It was her from the side, she was surrounded in a bounty of flowers, her face pulled into a laugh.

"That's beautiful, Keith," Mr Spouse smiled "the detail is amazing, why did you paint her this way?"

"Uh, well one of the first things I learned about Finn is that she hates her real name... but I didn't really know what a Persephone was." he paused for a second "Persephone was the Greek goddess of the Underworld - trapped there by Hades by being tricked. But, uh, Persephone made the most of it by growing flowers, which were also known as Persephone's. She grew something beautiful out of hate. I feel like that is a great definition off Finn. Endlessly optimistic... so that's why I drew her like this. Surrounded by Persephone's flowers."

Finn felt her heart swell the entire time he was talking, tears pricking as she smiled at him as he returned to his seat. She stole a glance at him and smiled.

 _I'm so fucked._ She thought. I have such a crush on him.


	8. Cinema

Finn brushed down her light pink dress while looking at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was perfectly straight for the first time, makeup done with a bit more precision. She jumped as there was a knock at her door, Allura popping her head round the door.

"Oh, you look so lovely!" she smiled

"Thank you." Finn breathed out

"So, cinema with "friends" is it?" she grinned, sitting down on the chair beside Finn's desk.

"What do you mean by that?" Finn tried to act innocent as she pulled on her shoes.

"I mean, Keith's kinda cute, huh?" she giggled, brushing silvery locks behind her ear "oh come on, I won't tell Takashi, indulge me!"

"You're so nosy." Finn laughed, though it was fond.

"You know it," Allura winked "so, do you like him?"

"I... I think I do." Finn blushed and Allura let off a squeal "Allura, you should of seen the painting he did of me - it was beautiful and god, he's so nice and kinda awkward and cute..."

"Aw, young love." Allura smiled "so, it's gonna be you two and who else today?"

"Lance and Pidge." Finn replied

"So, double date?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"That wasn't Lance's original plan but that's what it's turned out like."

"Are they still not dating?" Allura laughed. Finn told the girl pretty much everything, I mean Allura liked to ask the secrets of her friends but it was nice to have that person to talk to, not that Finn and Pidge didn't share every gruesome detail of their lives together but still.

"No." Finn chuckled "I'm kinda hoping Lance will get the balls to ask her to senior prom or something."

"That would be nice." she sighed, then looked at her watch "we better go or you'll be late - grab a jacket it's pretty chilly."

Finn smiled at the motherly comment and just did as she was told, scooping up her oversized denim jacket and following the girl out the door. Shiro had gone to college an hour before and sometimes Allura would just hang out in their house and wait for him to get back. She practically lived there most of the time.

Finn couldn't help but smile as Allura pulled up to the cinema, seeing Keith was laughing at some joke Pidge had cracked. Finn noted that today Pidge was makeupless, their hair messy and was in their male attire. None of their friends had really batted an eyelash when Pidge just casually mentioned they were genderfluid over lunch one day. Lance didn't know what it was, but thought it was pretty interesting when Pidge explained it. Finn, a few days later, had asked her about pronouns. She said female, usually, except on days when she was particularly male then they was fine. It seemed it was one of those days.

As she stepped out she thanked Allura for the ride and walked over to her friends, apparently being the last one to arrive.

"I'm not even late this time." she laughed as she stopped next to Pidge

"Shocking, I know." Lance smirked

"So, what are we seeing?" Keith asked

"The Conjuring 2." Lance grinned and Pidge rolled their eyes, Lance was actually terrified of horror movies - Pidge loved them. He was just trying to impress them.

"Oh, awesome." Finn smiled, another horror enthusiast, she smiled at Keith "have you seen the first one?"

"Yeah." he nodded as they walked into the cinema, Pidge bubbling away as they chatted to Lance who was smiling sweetly at back and Finn watched them fondly. Keith's warm hand brushed against hers as they handed their tickets over and she blushed. She really liked the fact Keith had agreed to come here. It was nice to have him, almost, alone. Not that it was a date... but it kinda was as well. She secretly hoped he thought it was. They scooted up to the back of the, relatively full, cinema - opting for four seats in the corner. Finn tugged slightly of Keith's leather jacket so they would slow their walking - letting Pidge casually go in front of him so they could sit by Lance. Keith chuckled under his breath and let Finn go before him. She slid down into the chair next to her best friend and put her feet up on the empty chair in front of her.

"Well, that's just rude to the short legged amongst us." Pidge sighed, lifting their legs which stopped about 7 inches before the chair.

"Sorry, honey." Finn grinned, nudging her friend. They fell into silence as the theatre darkened around them. Finn might of been a horror enthusiast but that did not mean she was not a total chicken. A fact Lance and Pidge knew well, and was made very clear to Keith when she screeched at the first jump scare. The two to her left dissolving into giggles while Keith was just taken off guard but still smiled as she blushed and sunk down into her chair. Finn still remembers the first horror movie she ever watched, her and Lance were 8 and found his older brother's DVD of The Ring and she'd cried so much that they got grounded for a month for watching it. Lance still held a grudge.

"Are you okay?" Keith leaned over to ask her and she looked at him, purple eyes were concerned and she smiled.

"I'm fine." she chuckled quietly, turning to the screen and leaning her arm on the rest, Keith blushed slightly as her warm skin pressed against his, the side of her hand by his. He looked down to her hand that was sitting on the chair, she tapped her first two fingers on the cup holder absent mindedly. Her hand was pale and small, fingernails a slightly chipped red colour. Keith would describe them as cute.

Speaking of, his brain nearly malfunctioned as there was another jump scare, causing her to flinch and the same hand to slam down on to his and grip into his skin. After malfunctioning he nearly died as she buried her face into his forearm - a string of curse words coming out her mouth.

He took a leap of faith and turned his hand over, his fingers naturally sliding through his. There was a moment of pure anxiety but he then smiled as her fingers tightened and she squeezed his hand.


	9. Crash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jesus, I'm so sorry this took so long to update! But here it is.

"That was awesome!" Pidge grinned as they walked out the cinema.

"We have to watch that again some time." Finn agreed. Lance was walking next to Pidge, positively shaking where he stood in fear.

"You okay there, sharp shooter?" Pidge giggled, giving him a nudge.

"F-fine."

"You promised me a ride home," they laughed, lifting up one of Lance's hands up in theirs "but your shaking like a Chihuahua."

Finn slid away to stand by Keith and watched the two as Lance's face exploded red at the fact Pidge's small and, he now realised, incredibly soft hand was in his. He took his chance and intertwined their fingers.

"Steady as a rock." he grinned and they laughed, shaking their head and turning to Finn and Keith.

"See you guys, Monday!" they waved, Finn noted the rosy tint to their cheeks as they were lead by Lance towards his car. Finn shivered as a breeze blew around the two of them.

"How are you geting home?" Keith asked her as she pulled out her phone, sighing to see a text from her brother that his seminar ran over and he can't pick her up.

"Takashi's bailed so probably take the bus or something." she smiled

"I can give you a ride." Keith smiled and headed for the car park, she scurried after him.

"You have a car?" she asked, he just kept getting more and more attractive.

"Not exactly." he chuckled, stopping next to a cherry red motorbike.

"You're kidding..." she said slowly as he grabbed he helmet off the handle bar and held it out to her.

"Not in the slightest." his lips quirked as he threw a leg over the vehicle.

"You want me to get on that?" she stared at him in disbelief "Keith, you're 17 and you want me to get on the back of your _motorbike_?"

He chuckled in amusement "I could drive one of these before I could talk, my dad used to race them."

"That doesn't make me feel better..." she muttered

"You scared?" he challenged with a, very attractive, smirk and Finn cracked. Lifting his helmet up and pulling it down on her head indignantly. She marched over, like the stubborn person she was, and clambered on the back of the seat.

"Don't kill me." she deadpanned to him and he laughed, kicking it into life and she gripped the chair under her.

"I promise I won't harm a hair of your head." he smiled before shooting forward. She couldn't help but scream, arms shooting out to grab him round the waist as a million curse words flew out her mouth.

"Don't tell my brother!" she laughed as he sped on to the highway.

"Never!" she heard him shout back. 

Finn found a hysterical laugh tumbling out her mouth at the sheer rush she was feeling, her nails digging into Keith's leather jacket, as wind whipped hair off her shoulder "this is incredible." she breathed, loud enough for Keith to just catch her words over the rush of wind and smiled as he turned on to the coastal path. She relaxed, resting her head between his shoulder blades and wrapping arms completely around his waist. Watching the very patch of beach go past where she found him drawing that one morning.

Much to her dismay it came to an end all too quickly as he skidded to a halt about a block from her house, to her request - if she pulled up on a motorbike outside her house Shiro would have her skin. And Keith's too. She giggled and she clambered off the bike, Keith remained seated as she yanked his helmet off, brushing down her hair again.

"That was amazing." she breathed, handing the helmet back to him "where did you learn to ride?"

Keith smiled a little sadly "my dad, he had me fixing bikes as soon as I could walk."

"You... built this?" Finn raised her eyebrows, waving at his red bike.

"Yeah." Keith chuckled "she's not perfect yet but..." Finn laughed and his eyes flickered to her "what?"

"Nothing." she shook her head "you're just.. full of surprises." he smiled, a small blush rising to his cheeks "uh, today was fun. We should... hang out again."

"I... I'd like that." Keith scratched his neck awkwardly

"I guess.. I'll see you Monday?" she asked, fiddling with her hands.

"Yeah." he nodded, pulling his helmet over his head. She blushed slightly, willing herself to admit that he looked mighty fine on a motorbike.

"Drive carefully." she smiled softly and he chuckled, kicking the bike to life.

"I always do." he flashed her a smile and she laughed as he took off down the street, blowing her hair off her face. Finn stood on the pavement for a minute, watching as his bike disappeared down the street, a giddy smile on her face.

x

"Shiro?" Keith yelled as he appeared for his shift in the mechanics a few days later. His hair pulled into a small pony tail, school bag slung over his shoulder.

"Hey Keith." came the man's voice as he appeared out from two cars "haven't seen you in a while?"

"Yeah, our shifts haven't been at the same time in ages." he smiled as he headed for the office, Shiro followed brushing off oil marks on to his overall.

"Finn said you walked her home from the movie on Saturday." Shiro smiled at the boy, who smirked at that. Yeah, _walked_. "thanks for that, I know I shouldn't but I always worry about her."

"You're her big brother, isn't it your job?" Keith laughed. Shiro was a little caught off guard by Keith's good mood and turned to smile him.

"Do you have siblings?"

"No, it's just me but I know if I had a little sister I'd be _so_ protective." he smiled, pulling his overall off his hook and stepped into it "how's that chevvy coming?"

"Still struggling to get the new exhaust pipe on." Shiro sighed, running a hand into his dark hair "I should get back to it, I have it suspended so I can get the bolts from underneath."

"Need some help?" Keith asked, zipping up his uniform over his clothes.

"Nah, I'll be fine." Shiro sighed "but the bike out back still needs work."

"Awesome." Keth grinned "I love working on that thing."

Shiro smiled slightly, Keith wasn't this completely happy very often. It was nice to see. "I'll leave you to it."

"Good luck!" Keith shot a cheeky smile over his shoulder and Shiro grimaced in return, making Keith chuckle and turn back. Heading to his locker to grab some of the tools out. A middle aged man had brought in a skeleton of a motor bike a few weeks ago and with literally throwing money at them to fit it up for him. Keith reckoned he must be having a midlife crisis.

Keith was digging through his tools trying to find the wrench when there was a ear splitting crash that made him jump out of his skin. He couldn't even describe how loud it was and the fear it shot through his body, but nothing could of prepared him from the blood curdling scream of his name from Shiro. It took a couple seconds for his legs to over from where he was frozen to the spot in fear. He sprinted into the garage where he could see the Chevvy Shiro had been working on crashed to the floor on it's side. He walked forward and his face pales at the pool of red liquid seeping out from under the car. His stomach retching he walked slowly round and almost cried in relief to see Shiro in one piece, lying on the floor beside the car.

"K-Keith..?" he said weakly, his face whiter than a sheet and slightly green. It suddenly hit him he had talked to soon as he saw Shiro's right arm was trapped under the car.

"Fuck." he breathed "I.. I'll call an ambulance."

"Call Finn too..." Shiro panted weakly as Keith ran for the office, snatching the phone off the hook as fast as possible.


	10. Loss

Keith was pacing up and down in the waiting room of the hospital. He'd got off the phone with Finn about 15 minutes ago, she didn't pick up the first few times he called after being at cheer practice, her phone in her gym bag. He'd ridden to the hospital with Shiro and got a vomit enduing shot of the gushing, gaping hole in his bicep. They'd taken him straight into surgery when he got here and had thrown Keith out into the waiting area.

"Keith!" came a voice, he turned around to see Finn, tears were streaked down her still wet cheeks as she ran down the hall. She was still her her cheer uniform with what looked like Lance's football jacket.

"Finn." he said softly and as she reached him she grabbed him around the shoulders. He was taken a back but didn't question it and he wrapped arms around her shoulders, holding her head to his chest and patting her hair.

"How is he? Have you seen him?" she cried as she stepped back.

"They took him into surgery as soon as we got here." he sighed "they wouldn't tell me anything."

"Oh god," she clutched at her hair "I need to phone Allura." she mumbled, digging around in her pockets and pulling out her phone.

"I'll get you some tea." Keith said, giving her arm a squeeze. She smiled at him weakly as she dialled in Allura's phone number as Keith disappeared down the hall in the direction of the cafeteria. Finn's hands were shaking, her chest aching and mind numb as she listened to it ring. Allura picked up after a few seconds.

"Hey, Finn." her happy voice came and Finn could of cried at the familiarity of it.

"Allura?" she managed, her voice sounded small and broken.

"Finn?" all happiness had gone from her voice "what's wrong?"

"It's.. it's Takashi.. he was at work and a car.. fell on his arm. Allura I'm at the hospital right now."

"Oh god." Allura sounded distant "I'm coming right now, Finn stay put, okay? Are you alone?"

"N-no, Keith's here." she managed

"Okay, stay there, I'll be there as soon as I can okay?" she said, her voice strong again.

"Right. I'll see you soon." and with that the line went dead. Finn stared numbly at the phone in her hand. Her mind was now racing at a million miles an hour.  _She couldn't lose him_. Not him. Not after everything they'd been through.

"Finn." came a soft voice and she looked up to meet Keith's dark, violet eyes looking at her. He was holding a cup of steaming liquid toward her "I asked if they had green tea cause it's your favourite and they did, I put honey in it just like you like it."

Finn looked at him and burst into a fresh round of tears at the kind outstretch, taking the cup form him "Th-thank you." she blubbered.

"Hey, hey. Shhh." Keith said, hand coming out to rub her arm "it's okay, he'll be fine."

Finn sniffed, throwing herself down into one of the bright orange, plastic waiting chairs, slurping down a mouthful of tea that immediately scorched her throat. Keith sat down beside her. She looked over at him and then sighed, dropping her head on to his shoulder. He stiffened for a second before she felt his cheek press into the crown of her head and he relaxed under her.

"Thanks for staying." she whispered.

"Of course." he said quietly "I wasn't exactly gonna leave you alone right now."

She snuggled her face into his neck a little more, the smell of sweet musk washing over her and it made her relax ever so slightly. Images of her brother's bloody arm fading a little from her mind. It was about 10 minutes until Allura appeared, sweeping Finn into a bone crunching hug as soon as she reached them. She looked absolutely worried out of her mind but thanked Keith for staying with Finn and for calling the ambulance before sitting on the seat next to them, chewing at the nail of her thumb and staring into space. Finn sat down next to Keith again and sighed, rubbing her forehead. Keith was now sketching in his book and she dropped her head back on to his shoulder to see what he was doing. He was sketching the man sitting across from them in perfect detail.

"You're so talented." Finn said, her voice was horse. Keith still blushed as he closed the book, shoving the pencil through the rings and putting it under his chair.

"Thanks." he said "how.. how are you holding up?"

"I'm just not thinking about it." she sighed, biting at the skin of her thumb so hard she broke the skin.

"Stop that." he said softly, pulling her hand away from her mouth and taking it in his. She sighed, intertwining their fingers. The three of them sat in the waiting room for maybe two hours before they got any news, Allura chewed her nails into nubs and Keith sat, rubbing her thumb soothingly along Finn's for the whole time, the two of them talking quietly to take her ind off it.

"Shirogane?" called a doctor into ghe room and Finn jumped to her feet.

"That's me, how is he?" she rushed over.

The doctor smiled a bit sadly at her "well, I've got good news and bad news."

"What is it?" Allura asked, gripping Finn's shoulder.

"Good news is he's okay, he's awake but he's on a lot of pain medications." he sighed "the bad news is, although we have stopped the bleeding for now, the internal damage to his arm is beyond repair, there is no way for us to heal it." he looked from Finn and Allura "the bones of his right arm are totally shattered and crushed. We're going to have to amputate it."

Finn choked "A-amputate? his arm?"

"Yes." he sighed "he should make a full recovery after that and he will be fitted for a prosthetic if he wishes."

"Can we see him?" Allura asked

"Yes." the doctor smiled "he's a little dazed, he's on quite a lot morphine but yes, you can see him. His surgery is scheduled for tomorrow." he nodded for them to follow, Finn's hand was still clutched firmly around Keith's so he followed her down the hall behind the doctor. Eventually they reached Shiro's room and the doctor waved them in. Allura went through first and her eyes instantly filled with tears. Finn's throat caught as she saw her brother. He looked like a shell of himself. His arm was, thankfully, covered in bandages and casts, a drip going into his left arm. His skin was a green tinged grey, there were huge dark circles under his eyes and he looked sullen. He blinked them open and looked at them glassily, a dopey smile pulled on to his face.

"Hey." he croaked

Finn let out a broken whimper before running across the room and grabbing his good side into a hug, sobbing into his neck. He brought his left arm up to her hair and patted it softly, pressing a kiss into her hairline.

"God." she stepped away "you scared me so much."

"I'm sorry, Finn." Shiro said, his voice hoarse.

"Don't apologise." she gave a watery laugh "you're alive that's all that matters... it's just after dad... god, I was so scared."

"It's okay, takes more than a car crushing my arm to take me down." he tried to joke. Finn laughed, rubbing at her eyes.

"That's an awful joke, dickhead." she smiled, cheeks still stained with mascara tears "you must be fine."

Shiro laughed, then winced at the action. Allura finally came over, after letting the family have their moment. Shiro smiled at her and she rubbed at her face, leaning down to kiss him very softly. She pulled away and leaned her forehead against his "I thought I lost you."

"Never."

The three of them stayed with Shiro all day, none of them mentioning the elephant in the room about his surgery tomorrow. Lance showed up too after Finn called him to tell him what happened, he cracked jokes all day that had them laughing. Finn was so glad he was there, and was so glad Keith stayed the whole day too. Lance drove the two of them to Finn's house that night, as Lance lived on the other end of town from Keith and he figured he could just walk.  
As Lance's blue car turned the corner on the end of the street, Finn hovered at her door, opening it to the silent and empty house.

"Um, K-Keith?" she asked

"Yeah?"

"Do you mind, um, staying?" she mumbled "I just.. I don't want to have to be in the house alone..."

"O-oh..." Keith blushed "alright."

"Thank you." she breathed, letting them both into the house, flicking on the lights and locking the door behind them. It was very late at this point and Finn yawned widely as she flopped down on the couch.

"I'm sorry, I just.. I don't think I could handle being here alone." she leaned forward and cradled her head in her hands. A few seconds later Keith saw her shoulders shaking and then soft sobs sounded into her hands. His eyes widened and he moved quickly, sitting down next to her and pulling her against his chest.

"Amputating his arm." she sobbed "holy fuck, Keith."

"It'll be okay." he breathed, rubbing her back as he felt the front of his shirt get a bit wet.

"I know, I should be glad, at least he's not dead." she rubbed at her eyes but her voice was shaking. Keith shushed her softly, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. She looked up at him, her cheeks were wet, eyes were red and puffy from the sheer amount of crying she'd done today.

"Thank you." she whispered "for being there today."

Keith gulped, eyes flickering to her lips. They were so close to his, her face mere inches from him "No problem."

"You're such a sweet person." her voice was barely a whisper, Keith could of sworn she was itching closer to him.

"It's.. it's nothing." he managed "anyone decent would of done what I would of, not that I meant that as-"

"Keith." she mumbled

"Yeah?"

"Shut up." she smiled, then all of a sudden her lips were on his. It took him a moment to realise what was happening and relaxed, his hand coming up to her cheek as he kissed back. He felt her arms wind around his neck, bringing him closer as lips moved softly together. It was when she pushed harder against his lips, and he tasted the salt of her tears in his mouth, did he push her back. They panted in each other's personal space for a second.

"What is it?" she frowned, looking ,ore heartbroken than before and it made his chest tighten "I thought... I thought you liked me?"

He gulped "I do, Finn." he sighed looking down "but you're tired and sad and I don't... I don't wanna be the one time thing to cheer you up." she looked at him with those pretty, grey eyes "just, when you.. feel better. Please kiss me again but... this isn't the right time for...  _this._ "

Her lips moved into a small smile and she dropped her forehead to his shoulder, his hands still sitting on her waist, her arms looped around his neck "you're right."

"Sorry." he mumbled, lips right next to her ear.

She chuckled "Don't. It's alright." with a sigh she untangled herself from him "I'm gonna, go to bed." she didn't meet his eyes "I can set up a mattress on the floor or something I really don't wanna be alone."

"Sure." Keith nodded, kicking himself a little for stopping the kiss but knowing it was right.

"Keith?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."


	11. Ghost Hunters

Finn groaned through a headache as the sound of music playing softly downstairs lulled her awake. Through her sore and groggy state it took her a few moments to remember the events of the day before, all the way up to kissing Keith. With another heavy groan she pushed the balls of her hands into her eyes. Hoping that if she pushed hard enough she could knock the memory out of her head. She didn't  _regret_ it exactly. More like wished she'd made her first kiss with him more special. At least she knew he liked her now.

That thought only slightly made the ache in her chest leviate. Her brother was having he arm amputated today, no matter what she did - that thought would never be any less false. Oh god, if their father could see them now. Turning over a frown found it's way on to her face.

11:30AM.

She should be in school.

_Fuck._

Snatching her phone off the table she saw she had a couple missed calls from Lance and more texts from Pidge than she could count. Now aware that there were noises from downstairs she slid out of bed, stretching and yawning - her bones popping uncomfortably - before stumbling past Keith's empty blankets.

As she walked into the kitchen she smiled as she saw the boy leaning over her coffee machine as it sludged out tar like, black coffee. Perfect.

"Morning." she smiled, he turned and she found a blush rising to her cheeks. His eyes were tired, his hair messy and falling out a small ponytail. He smiled sleepily, holding one of Finn's mugs in his hand. 

"Good morning." his voice rasped and she blushed just a tad more at the sexy morning voice "coffee?"

"Please." she nodded, jumping up on the bar stool as he poured out coffee for her, he went to open his mouth but she cut him off "just milk."

He chuckled "okay, same as me then." he pushed the mug across to her, leaning on his elbows on the other side of the counter.

"I hate to break it to you." Finn sipped her coffee "but we might of missed first period."

Keith smiled "I didn't have the heart to wake you up at 8. I figured you've earned a day off."

"I have." she smirked "so are you just looking for the excuse?"

He gave her a very attractive smile "damn, you got me." Finn giggled into her mug "I thought we could just.. I don't know, hang out, until we can visit Shiro after his surgery."

"I'd like that." she sighed, desperately trying not to think of her brother. Numbing herself worked better than anything "movie?"

"What you in the mood for?" he asked

"I don't know," she shrugged "something mindnumbing and pointless."

"Ghost Hunters?" Keith suggested

Finn beamed "god yes, I love that show." 

Keith practically  _felt_ his crush grow. A girl with good taste in TV. She wrapped her fingers round the coffee cup and moved toward the living room, he followed her. Admitting himself the joy of getting to see her like this. In her sweat pants and too big Iron Maiden shirt. Hair a mess and face totally devoid of makeup. Though, he also remembered. He did like her makeup and her nice clothes. The cheer outfit especially. At this he blushed and took a seat next to her on the couch.

She flicked through the options on the T.V. until finding it, whacking on some episode from the 6th season and curling her legs into herself, pulling the blanket from the back of the couch around her shoulders. Keith smiled rather sadly, he wished it were better circumstances that he was here. He was bunking off school for her, when his Mum found out he was gonna get it in the neck. He shuddered at the thought and tried to push it from his mind. He'd sent her a vague text earlier, hopefully she wouldn't be too mad... he would hopefully have a bed to sleep in tonight. Depended if she'd been drinking. 

He jumped from his thoughts at the feeling on Finn dropping her head on to his shoulder. He relaxed at the warm feeling, worries about his mother seemed to melt away as she threw the blanket round his shoulders too, snuggling closer.

He'd meant what he'd said last night, he didn't want Finn jumping into rash decisions during such a hard time for her family. But right how he would indulge himself - so with a burst of confidence, he snaked an arm around her shoulders and brought her closer. Finn herself smiled, draping legs over his lap and sliding her arm lazily sliding her arm round his waist. It stiffened for a second at the touch before he relaxed, breathing out a happy sigh. He could get used to this, she was warm under his fingers.

Finn found herself drifting off at how warm and comfortable she felt. Keith's shoulder was a little boney, but his neck was so warm. She started dozing about the time they entered some abandoned old building, slipping off to sleep before she knew it.

She woke up with an irritated moan as Keith slid out from under her and the noise of her house phone ringing.

"Hello?" Keith answered the phone for her as she blinked into the sunlight of the room, the credits to the episode were playing as she groggily rubbed her eyes "right, yes, she's here I can pass you along." he pulled the phone away from his ear "Finn, it's the hospital."

With that she jumped to her feet, stumbling on the blankets as she snatched the phone rather unceremoniously from his hand "H-hello?"

"Persephone, hello." came a kind sounding, warm Southern accent "I'm just calling to tell you your older brother is out of surgery. It was completely successful - he's awake now and asking for you."

"Please tell him I'm leaving right now." she breathed, her entire body relaxing at the idea that he was awake enough to ask for her. She laughed a little manically as she hung up"he's fine, well as fine as he can be, and he's awake."

Keith was already jumping up, snatching his hoodie and the keys to his bike. Finn didn't argue, she'd ride on a unicycle to get to the hospital if she had too - so she ran out the door after him. He handed her the helmet and she jumped on behind him, this time just wrapping arms around his waist as he kicked the bike to life and shot off the pavement toward the hospital. The ride there was very short, Keith was ignoring a few of the speed laws and it was only 10 minutes later he skidded to a halt outside the hospital. Finn jumped off the bike and handed the helmet back to him.

"Run in, I'll find somewhere to park this." Keith said, muffled by his helmet. Finn didn't argue, just nodded and turned toward the front doors. Dashing in, panting who she wanted to see to the lady in the reception. She took the elevator up, vibrating with the need to see him. The doors slid open and she practically sprinted down the hallway , skidding to a halt in front of the door number she'd been told.

For a second, fear got the better of her and she stood, heaving in the hallway. A part of her didn't want to go in, even if Shiro was fine. He was still one limb down. With a sharp inhale of breath, she knocked on the door and didn't pause before entering.

Her brother was sat propped up in the bed, his torso was bare but the entire right side was wrapped up in bandages. He was watching what looked like football on the T.V. and hadn't heard her come in.

"Takashi?" she spoke gingerly, her voice was small. He looked over and his face split into a grin.

"Finn, hey." he said, his voice was hoarse.

"You look better." she took a wary step into the room, she wasn't wrong. There was more colour to his face but Finn couldn't help but notice the fact the bandages stopped just short of his elbow. She gulped down the lump in her throat. "How - how are you?"

"Better." he said softly "come here."

She let off a half broken breath and cross the room, burying her face in the left hand side of his neck "jesus, Takashi."

"Hey, hey." he said softly, patting her hair with his good arm "it's fine, I'm fine."

"This is anything but fine." she said. He sighed and then grunted, his face screwing up as he moved across the bed away from her, then patted the space he made. She sighed and lay down next to him, letting him wrap an arm around her.

"God, if Dad could see us now." Finn sighed.

"He'd give me such a lecture." Shiro chuckled "he'd be livid I stained the floor of the garage with my blood."

Finn giggled "that's so morbidly true." she smiled "but when he saw you were hurt he would of freaked out, probably lifted the car off you with one hand and carried you to the ER."

Shiro was chuckling "He was stupidly strong. I remember when you were little and wouldn't go to bed like the defiant toddler you were and he would pick you up in the palm of his hand like you were a feather."

"And then smack you round the other because you were playing video games instead of studying." she grinned

"It's not my fault he brought home the new GameCube during test season." her brother said indignantly and Finn laughed, full and warm. Shiro smiled.

"I miss him." Finn said quietly

"Me too." her brother sighed

"You scared me so much." Finn's voice was barely coming out now "I thought... what would I do without you?" she felt tears spill on to her cheeks and sobbed raggedly.

"Hey, it's okay." Her brother's grip around her shoulder tightened "I'm never going anywhere, you hear me? There's no getting rid of me."

Finn sobbed and nodded "fuck, you'd think I'd be out of tears."

"You've obviously stayed hydrated." Shiro smiled "I was worried you'd just go home and sit and wait for me to be out of surgery."

"Well, Keith helped." she said, Shiro gave her a look between protectivemness and amusement.

"Keith? He stayed over?"

"Oh put down your brother guard for a sec, nothing like that."she laughed. I twas only a slight lie. "I just, the house is awful empty without you." there was a soft knock at the door and the boy himself stuck his head round "speak of the devil."

"I can wait in the cafeteria..." he said

"Nonsense, come in." Shiro smiled, Keith walked in - holding one of those coffee carriers in one hand with three cups from the cafeteria.

"Oh, he comes prepared." Finn laughed, feeling a bit light hearted again after getting that off her chest and hearing her brother laughing.

"Green tea?" he offered Finn a cup and she smiled, taking it and sitting up on Shiro's bed. Taking a sip she could taste the honey he must of added.

"I got your coffee the way you like it if you want it, Shiro." Keith offered and Finn watched her brother smile at him and take the cup with his hand.

"Thanks Keith, please sit down." he slurped the coffee "do you guys want to stay? I was watching the game."

"Oh, who's playing?" Keith settled down into the chair next to Shiro's bed. As soon as Keith and Shiro realised they both supported the same team they were talking the whole day. Finn sat beside her brother and let them chat, sipping on her tea and half paying attention tot he game, though checking out a few of the cheer moves and hal time and texting Shay that they should try out a split-lift at the next game. Allura showed up eventually, carrying a tupperwear of her chicken pot pie and they ate it off paper plates from the cafeteria in their laps.

It was a good day. 


End file.
